Pho Hao Restaurant — Restaurant in Calgary

This is a difficult review for me to make because they had an opportunity to make things right, and didn’t. Okay so we went here on a Wednesday evening around 9pm, there was one table of 8 and one table of 5… we arrived and then within 20 minutes 3 more tables arrived. Our order was taken before the 3 tables arrived. Cool, no problem! Everyone’s food starts coming out except ours, not even our bubble tea was brought to us, so we ask the server, she apologized and said it’ll be out shortly! I reminded her no peanuts as I’m severely allergic, and to make sure there is hoisen sauce and hot sauce brought to the table- she makes eye contact and confirms no peanuts you have allergy. Good, awesome, we wait for the food. She brings the foods out, and puts it on the table- the lighting was dim so I couldn’t see things properly, I’m so hungry as well as we’ve waited over and hour for food- I dip my salad roll in what I assumed was hoisen sauce… nope pure peanut sauce 🤦‍♀️😩 I caught it before I swallowed it but I’m anaphylactic to peanuts so as you could imagine I’m my meal was ruined and I had to leave. They didn’t comp the bill, they took the bubble tea off because they were half melted by the time she severed them to us!! So not only did we get our food last, remind them of the severe peanut allergy, come in contact with the peanuts ( a risk you take when eating out if you have allergies- I know I know but allergies are common these days so I shouldn’t have to worry to much especially when it’s only the sauce that has it on the side of my meal) anyways- the food is usually good here so I’m not going to bash them for that but as a server myself it’s important to watch these things and take care of your customers and I felt that this restaurant didn’t do that and I wasted my money here and almost died… you be the judge and make your own review, however I’m writing this to raise awareness for people, like myself, with...

We ordered soup, a sandwich, and shrimp spring rolls for lunch today, sad to say the quality of the food has gone downhill by a lot since last time we ate here. The sandwich was made on old bread ( was not yet moldy but had lost all of its crispy crust that is a bahn mi staple) the veggies inside were not fresh at all ( cilantro had been picked clean of leaves and was mostly stem, cucumber was rotting, nothing had crunch) and the chicken itself was supposed to be sate but had no peanut, was just some kind of sweet chilli sauce. The spring rolls tasted off, the shrimps inside were discolored and only reached about halfway through the roll, the rest of the roll was filled with kind of a gummy doughy situation that did not resemble shrimp at all. Finally the soup was okay but nothing special, broth was simultaneously watery and oily and the veggies/ herbs were lacking freshness as well. Basil was completely black and limp, carrots were flaccid, was just overall not good. On top of everything the order took over an hour to prepare and my girlfriend was late to her other commitments due to waiting so long for what should have been a quick lunch. Really disappointed but we...

Absolutely love this place! The staff are super sweet, the soup bowls are huge (even bigger for the large), the ingredients are fresh (LOVE the fresh bean sprouts and basil with the soups!), their spring rolls are fresh made and delicious (best spring rolls I've ever had, and I love spring rolls), the pork chops are delicious, and their sub breads are soft AND crispy (best of both worlds) with delicious, fresh ingredients. If you do not like rare beef, make sure to order the sate beef soup with the meat cooked well done.

There is plenty of space and often has tables available. They are usually very busy during peak meal hours. Very busy, but it totally speaks to the wonderful character of the place and the food.

The décor is leaning towards an authentic Vietnamese setting (wooden walls, grass accents, rickshaws, music [Vietnamese remixes to popular Western music, a little cheesy but so wonderful and adds to the ambiance]) and I appreciate the replicated experience.

I keep going back for more and more and more! I can't get enough! In fact, I think I'll head there...